Building with Nature: Hemplime and PA HempHome

Join us for Building with Nature: Hemplime and HempHome in Pennsylvania to explore how innovative biobased products can turn abandoned housing into new homes and rejuvenate local agriculture

PA Hemp Home is a pilot project executed to research, test, and apply HempLime insulation in the renovation of a small, affordable home. DON Enterprise in New Castle, a post-industrial city in western Pennsylvania, led the collaborative project and the work was supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Local farmers participated in the project by planting new fields of industrial hemp for installation in the project.

HempLime is a sustainable, healthy material that can be used to retrofit the walls of affordable housing. The hemp and lime mix creates breathable, highly insulated walls, producing a house that is durable and offers increased comfort compared with currently available housing.
Hemplime is an underutilized material. This project enabled a developer and contractor to test the material as a new insulation for retrofitting existing wood frame houses. The PA Hemp Home was used as supporting documentation for the proposed Hemp-lime Construction appendix for the International Building Code, which will be implemented this year. Join us in being HempLime Fans!